Samsung’s August tentative launch plans for its GEMS Hip assistive robot/exoskeleton haven’t panned out as expected. Early reports said that Samsung might release GEMS Hip in August 2022, but August came and went, and Samsung gave us two new foldable phones and two new smartwatches at Unpacked. GEMS Hip is still nowhere to be found, but a new report now says that the company could release the assistive robot before the end of the year.

Although GEMS Hip might not enter full-scale mass production before the second half of 2023, a new report says that Samsung might release the assistive robot in limited numbers in December at the earliest. (via Business Korea)

The final design of GEMS Hip has yet to be decided

Reports say that Samsung may have missed its tentative August release because it has yet to decide on the final design of GEMS Hip. Samsung is carefully considering this aspect for a couple of reasons. One is that GEMS Hip is supposed to be classified as a medical device. The other is that GEMS Hip could become the leading product in Samsung’s robotic lineup, which means that the company wants to get everything right before committing to mass production.

The initial batch of GEMS Hip assistive robots could consist of 50,000 units. Regardless, Samsung won’t assemble GEMS Hip at its facilities. Most parts are reportedly supplied by a variety of Korean companies, while Intops — a company that specializes in manufacturing medical devices and robots — will be responsible for the final assembly of GEMS Hip.

Samsung has had GEMS Hip in development for a few years. The walking aid exoskeleton (or rather, a preliminary design of GEMS Hip) was showcased at CES, and the device received the ISO 13482 safety certification in 2020.